Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy featuring Deborah Gibson begins its run on Tuesday at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Conn.

When it comes to dreams, Deborah Gibson is living them.

Her career as a singer-songwriter took off back in 1987 at the tender age of 16 with the release of her self-penned single “Only in My Dreams.” She was known as Debbie back then.

Now 39 and earning the respect she deserves as Deborah, the seasoned performer and actress is continuing her dream in the title role of Mother Nature in “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” which opens on Tuesday at the MGM Grand Theater in Connecticut, where it will run through Sept. 1.

“I’m so excited to be a part of an entertainment first and combine my skills as both a solo performer and a theatrical actress,” said Gibson.

“Neil Goldberg is a pioneer and the best at melding family entertainment, spectacle, and stylized circus performance. After over two decades in show biz, it’s a first for me,” added the singer, who has sold more than 16 million albums worldwide.

And it’s also a first for the Cirque Dreams theatrical organization that until now has never cast a pop star or any celebrity as lead vocalist in one of its shows.

Deborah Gibson

Acting is nothing new for the Long Island native who began to explore her acting chops in theater in 1992, performing in the Broadway musical “Les Misérables.” Other roles followed in “Cabaret,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and the original West End production of “Grease” in London, as well as national tours of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Funny Girl” and “Cinderella.”

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is the brainchild of Neil Goldberg’s theatrical imagination and the Cirque Dreams brand of entertainment since 1993 – creators of numerous international touring extravaganzas including “Cirque Dreams Illumination,” “Cirque Dreams Holidaze,” “Cirque Dreams Pandemonia” and the first show of its kind at sea, “Cirque Dreams and Dinner” on board the Norwegian EPIC. Over 20 million fans have attended a Cirque Dreams show throughout the United States and abroad in the past five years.

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is an exotic encounter inspired by nature’s unpredictable creations that are brought to life by an international cast of soaring aerialists, spine-bending contortionists, acrobats, jugglers and musicians. The astounding feats performed in the action-packed Cirque Dream – a breathtaking ballet of butterflies, soaring birds, balancing giraffes and flipping monkeys – are enhanced with over 150 dazzling and colorful costumes that were nominated for an American Theatre Wing Best Costume Design Award. The show takes place in a “fantastical” jungle on stage filled with flowers, mushrooms and giant trees enhanced by state-of-the-art visual effects.

“Neil came to see me perform in ‘The King and I’ back in 2008 and there was a feeling that at some point there might be a cool project for us to work on together, and he reached out to me a couple of months ago with this role,” said Gibson.

“I’ve never done this type of show before. It’s still a theatrical role but one I can bring more of myself into as a performer. It’s not so rigid that I can’t develop and make the character of Mother Nature more of my own, unlike performing as Belle, for example, in ‘Beauty in the Beast,’” she added.

And, Gibson felt taking on the role of Mother Nature was something natural for her.

“On theater tours I tend to be the mother hen – a grounding force for the kids in the ensemble,” she laughed.

What’s next for the one-time pop princess who has even posed in Playboy Magazine? Last month it was announced that the Syfy network has cast Gibson and Tiffany, her pop-star rival from the 80, in an original movie to air on the network titled “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid.”

And, Gibson is in the throes of planning a musical comeback.

“I want to do it in a big way,” said Gibson about her music reinvention.

“It’s not all about the 25-year-old girls out there. Look at Tina Turner and Cher who were able to empower a whole new generation again,” she added.